Keep the news in the Wayback Machine. Sign Fight for the Future's letter.




"August, 2018": I like to be productive. I decided that I'd shoot a short movie of me playing (M)Usic every day of 2018. At 1st, I was imagining playing a short piano solo everyday. This would stimulate me to practice more & challenge me to try to make the short solos very varied. Then I decided that it would be more fun to play different instruments. I collect instruments, getting them cheaply when I can find them. So I get them from thrift stores, yard sales, pawn shops. As of 2018, I'm retired & living off such a small amount that there's not even enough to always pay the bills. Creating a project like this helps keep me busy when my lack of income might otherwise be overwhelmingly depressing. I look forward to each new day's scene. By March, I inevitably started making things more elaborate, with more lighting, more varied clothing, more complicated shots, etc. April upped the ante even more. Since I plan on showing every month's movie both separately & in order as a feature, I'm keeping in mind the overall trajectory of the entire "365". As such, I decided to make "May, 2018" be only piano as a way of scaling down from the extravagances of the preceeding months. Then I thought: what can I possibly do in June to keep things interesting? On May 31st, I decided to try to play a duet with a different person every day of June. It was difficult to find 30 local people willing to play a duet with me to meet my goal of a different duet for every day so I contacted people in my international contacts to somehow make a duet together — using Skype or some other means. July became the 1st month where I expanded outside of my (M)Usic Room & mostly out of my house. Simpler means of producing sounds, such as whislting, were favored. Since August began with the UNDERAPPRECIATED MOVIEMAKERS FESTIVAL that I'd organized for the 1st through the 4th, the month began with sessions involving the people who came to visit me to participate in that: Dick Turner from Paris (Lilipudlian Membranophone, trombone, piano, etc), dzum from Rotterdam (miscellaneous electro-acoustic), Florian Cramer from Rotterdam (miscellaneous electro-acoustic including cell-phone), Skizz Cyzyk from BalTimOre (vibraphone, electric ukelele). Dick & I did quite a few duets together. Alas, the last of those more-than-welcome visitors was gone by August 9th & the "365" emphasis changed to WHATEVER. After that, I got another electronic instrument out from the library; Dick had given me the Membranophone so that made quite a few appearances; I was fortunate to be able to play a duet with magician/accordionist Tanya Solomon who was passing trhough town; my old friends Breen Casey & Joy Toujours both cooperated with me, etc. Joy gave me a homemade electronic instrument from his collection & I played with that. A coworker agreed to do a Doo-Wop bass off-camera while I did the lead vocal. It was, indeed, WHATEVER. As is usually the case, my prospective (v)audience, if there is one, are geeks & weirdos, you know who you are. Enjoy! - August 31, 2018 note from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE